"O, now I have found it! you dislike her for no other reason but because she's your wife."
This satirical line, delivered by Palamede, alludes to a central idea of the play, that marriage is not a state of contentment, but actually a state of dissatisfaction. Palamede points out that Rhodophil does not need a good reason to be dissatisfied with Doralice, because it is enough of a reason that she is his wife.
"Intrigue, Philotis! that's an old phrase; I have laid that word by; amour sounds better. But thou art heir to all my cast words, as thou art to my old wardrobe. Oh, count Rhodophil! Ah mon cher! I could live and die with him."
Melantha, one of the comic characters, reveals that she is an extremely pretentious person and an inveterate social climber. She does not actually speak French, but peppers her speech with extremely bad and mispronounced French words to make herself seem more sophisticated. She is on the cutting edge of fashion, seen frequently at court and elsewhere, but is ridiculous in spite of herself.
"I had forgot myself to be so kind; indeed, I am very angry with you, dear; you are come home an hour after you appointed: if you had staid a minute longer, I was just considering whether I should stab, hang, or drown myself."
Doralice speaks to Rhodophil with a dramatic sense of her own longing. In this moment, it seems as though she might be expressing something genuinely romantic to her husband, Rhodophil, but it turns out that they are putting on a show in front of Artemis, and are actually covering up the fact that they have grown quite bored of one another.
"Our husbands think it reasonable to complain, that we are the same, and the same to them, when we have more reason to complain, that they are not the same to us. Because they cannot feed on one dish, therefore we must be starved. 'Tis enough that they have a sufficient ordinary provided, and a table ready spread for them: If they cannot fall too, and eat heartily, the fault is theirs; and 'tis pity, methinks, that the good creature should be lost, when many a poor sinner would be glad on't."
Doralice is responding to Rhodophil's criticism of her: he's just told her that since she "is a wife, and will be a wife," he wants to separate and pursue other women. She's not novel enough, interesting enough, or pleasant enough for him, and he is unsatisfied. Left alone on stage, she responds with an intelligent and reasonable criticism of his change in behavior and inability to appreciate a good woman.
"I could know her in any shape: My good genius would prompt me to find out a handsome woman: There's something that would attract me to her without my knowledge."
Doralice has disguised herself as a boy to have an opportunity to see how Palamede behaves when she is not around. Palamede does not recognize her even though she taunts him, and he tells her that he is drawn to his mistress in an almost inexplicable way. The irony is, of course, that he cannot even recognize that he is just now talking to his mistress.
"I frame not any to be hid from you. You, in my love, all my designs may see; But what have love and you design'd for me? Fortune, once more, has set the ballance right. First, equall'd us, in lowness; then, in height. Both of us have so long, like Gamesters, thrown, Till Fate comes round, and gives to each his own. As Fate is equal, so may Love appear: Tell me, at least, what I must hope, or fear."
Leonidas speaks these rhyming couplets to Palmyra after he has discovered that he is the rightful heir of the throne. He discusses the fact that they have already gone through so much, so many mistaken identities and confusions, in order to be together. He also recognizes, however, that the realization that he is the rightful heir to the throne that Palmyra's father has usurped is a complicated bit of information, one that will call Palmyra's loyalties into question.
"Well, I'll cherish my body as much as I can upon that hope. 'Tis true, I would not directly murder the wife of my bosome; but to kill her civilly, by the way of kindness, I'll put as fair as another man: I'll begin to morrow night, and be very wrathful with her, that's resolv'd on."
At the end of the play, Palamede and Doralice realize that they should not be together, that it is better for them to stay with their spouses. They bemoan the fact that they will never have one another, before holding out the hope that perhaps they will each outlive their spouses and get to love one another someday. In this line, Palamede says that he will not try and actively kill Melantha, but he will kill her "by the way of kindness," in hopes that he can one day be with Doralice.
"— I have all I hope, And all I now must wish; I see you happy. Those hours I have to live, which Heav'n in pity Will make but few, I vow to spend with Vestals: The greatest part, in pray'rs for you; the rest In mourning my unworthiness. Press me not farther to explain my self; 'Twill not become me, and may cause your trouble."
At the end of the play, Amalthea has helped Leonidas to ascend the throne, and is in love with him, even though she knows he cannot be with her. In this monologue, she mourns the fact that she is "unworthy" in love and cannot earn the king's affections, but resigns herself to a loveless future.
"I believe it was invented first by some jealous Lover, to discover the haunts of his Jilting Mistris; or, perhaps, by some distressed servant, to gain an opportunity with a jealous man's wife."
Rhodophil says this to Palamede after they have gotten themselves outfitted for the masquerade. Dressed in disguises, Rhodophil muses about the potential origins of the masquerade tradition, the fact that it was likely invented for someone who wanted to assume another identity in order to have a little more freedom.
"A very plain, and pithy Declaration. I see, Sir, you have been travelling in Spain or Italy, or some of the hot Countreys, where men come to the point immediately. But are you sure these are not words of course? For I would not give my poor heart an occasion of complaint against me, that I engag'd it too rashly, and then could not bring it off."
In the first scene of the play, Doralice says this to Palamede. She notices that he comes on very strong as he declares his admiration for her. She susses out his feelings, trying to get a sense of whether he is speaking earnestly, or simply flattering her.
